phishtix

Sweet! And on a blue bird day yet. Can't ask for anything better than that!

Made a trip to the east side this weekend. Not many people fishing at all. A few on the pier in the mornings and evenings but had the river to myself mostly. Saw one other boat the entire trip.

When I started Friday morning I had three fish in less than an hour. 2 steelhead and 1 atlantic salmon. Thought it was going to be a great trip but the sun came out around 10am and that was it. I had a couple good rips after that but didn't catch another fish the entire rest of the trip.

For what its worth the water temps are hovering right around the 55 degres mark. The upper river was crystal clear and the lower river had a decent stain.

I'm heading back up next weekend and plan to work the lower sections more.

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Yeah I sometimes wonder what happens to fish that I give to other people.

I always cook my fish up while its fresh.  I'm not much for freezing it. And I'm always careful to about not letting it go to waste. Friends always like it when I smoke it. But I have trouble digesting smoked fish so I only eat it in small quantities. Mostly I smoke it to share with others. got this dip I make with cream cheese, lime juice, worchestershire sauce, onions and smoked salmon. Its really good, but I can only eat a tiny bit of it. My friends and family love it though.

I do better with poached, grilled, or baked. So when I make it for myself that's usually how I cook it.

None? That's interesting. Do you put them all back or give them to others?

Pier can be tough this time of year. That's my opinion anyways. Others may feel differently. I have spent hours on the piers catching nothing, then all of the sudden it turns on. And you never know what your going to catch. Might get a steelhead, or maybe a big brown or even a coho or Chinook. Mostly though you got to be really patient. Weather is a big factor too. Never know what to expect. I usually come prepared to head up river if the waves are crashing over the walls bad.

When the whitefish come in it will be better. Again, "my opinion"

This is the Chinook hen I caught. Didn't keep her but fun to catch.  

So I have been taking pics lately using my cell phone. Its all sort of new to me. I tried to upload it straight from my phone but having trouble getting it to work with my computer. So I emailed it to myself from my phone. Thought at first it didn't work then this morning I opened my email and there is was

This is one of the fresh steelhead I got from the St Joe.

Just curious about this. I really like to eat fish. Especially walleyes and whitefish. I enjoy salmon too but not nearly as much. Steelhead I like better than salmon except those spring cohos. I really like spring cohos. Not sure why they taste so much better in the spring but they do.

That being said, I find at certain times of the year I am eating fish several times a week. In fact lately I have been eating so much fish I am getting sick of fish. But I have this thing about if I keep a fish for eggs or whatever reason then I need to eat that fish while its fresh and not let any of it go to waste. That usually amounts to a couple fish per week. And salmon and steelhead go a long ways. It sort of works out like this. I go fishing Friday and Saturday. I eat fish sat, sun, mon, and Tuesday. That's a lot of fish I think.

I do share it with others. I have smoked it and taken it to work. Lots of friends that I have given them fish to cook up for themselves. And obviously I don't keep everything I catch. But I still find myself with an over abundance of fish to have to eat myself. I sometimes worry it might not be good for me.

So how much fish do other here eat on a weekly basis? And for those who catch a lot of fish, what do you do with all those fish?

Looks like a lot of fun. Great job on the video production.

Hopefully you get some better weather next time.

I fished two different rivers this past week. The Big M and the St Joe.

After saying I was going to switch tactics and start looking for steel I ended up getting into a bunch of salmon on the big M. No complaints  They were mostly cohos but they were very fresh. I did get one really big king and I actually was able to net her in the boat by myself. It wasn't easy but I'm getting better at it I think. Also lost a really nice lake run brown. Thought I was stuck on a log at first turned out to be a fat LRB. Lost it at the boat.

I came home and decided to go over to the St Joe. I managed to catch two very fresh steelhead there.

The water is perfect on both rivers. The BM is up with just a slight stain. The Joe is up and visabilty is about 2ft. Both rivers were nice and cold. Fish are really strong.

Cool pics! 

If the water is clear I run my spoons high and fast. If the water is dirty I go deep and slow. Watch the tip of your rod to see if the lure is "working" should have a slight pulse as you retrieve. I have a few different retrieves that I use and experiment back and forth till something works. Sometimes I like to jig the spoon by casting out and letting it sink and slowly jigging up and down as I bring it back. My favorite spoons for steelhead are orange and gold. When I fish the pier I usually have a couple set rods with bait. Then I walk back and forth casting spoons or count downs or maybe try to catch some bait with a sabiki rig.

Nice one!

Nice!

Tell you this much, given a choice between the two, gobies and alewives, I'd much rather have some fresh alewives to use for bait when I'm fishing out off the pier.

I wonder if the 300,000 Chinooks will be fingerlings? I'm assuming they will be since its much less expensive. Comparing that to the same number of yearling fish isn't even close as far as how many will survive to become adults.

I am happy about the number of Coho though. I now the charter boats probably don't get excited about that but for me Cohos make up the majority of the salmon I catch on a yearly basis. I am especially fond of spring Coho. Not sure why they taste so much better in the spring but the spring Coho are some of my favorite eating fish.

I wasn't overly impressed with the fishing near Racine, but I've only been there once.

I can say this much, the fishing pressure was sure a lot lighter over there than it is here.

Fished a large popular north west trib the other day. Fished all day and caught 2 Chinooks using skien. Had another one on but couldn't get him in to my net. He was too big. I think if I would have had some help I could have gotten him in there but being by myself and in a boat it was tough. I gave up on the net and tried to grab him by hand and that's when he got off. I'm guessing he was probably a 20lber or more. The others were 10 and 15 lbs. Both males.

Time to change gears I think now. Salmon are mostly on the gravel and the ones in the holes are mostly stale fish that don't want to bite. Time to start looking for steelhead.

"We could stop king planting entirely and not see much off a fall off in catch rates"

If that were true then what you said about Salmon cuts having "immediate" results would be false.

The cuts that have already been made have been noticeable. And I think they were over due. Not sure I believe further cuts are needed but how would I know. I only know what I see and that is very limited.

I do know the State and Federal have been working for many years to protect and grow the Lake Trout population. I think they see it as the Lake Trout are native while the Salmon are not. 

Natural reproduction of Lake Trout should be much higher than it is for Salmon.  So it stands to reason that the Lake Trout population would be the least affected by reduced stocking, ie... we could stop planting Lakers and not see much of a fall of in catch rates. Most anglers don't have the equipment to be able to target Lakers anyway. They are for the most part a big lake only fishery.

Whatahoot  brings up a good point. If you look back in the past records, MI at one time did stock bait fish into the Great Lakes. I believe Canada still does. I heard the DNR statement that TGA mentioned. I don't buy it myself. If that were true then we are doomed no matter what. But if they ever did start such a program I would hope it would be Smelt they were releasing and not Alewives.

Some chubby ones for sure!

Fished a north east river this past weekend. Did not see any salmon although I'm sure theres a few in there.

I did manage 2 pike and one nice walleye.

A lot of weeds and the current was pretty slow. Been a while since I fished this stretch. Man how things have changed. I remember fishing this spot with my dad many many years ago. Not sure if it was just cause it was on my mind but I had a dream about him last night. Seemed so real. When I woke up and realized it was just a dream I wanted to go back to sleep and keep dreaming.

Fresh walleye for breakfast this morning. Dad would have been all over that

Used to have smelt on the east side. I remember cleaning buckets full with my dad when I was a kid.

I just got back from Manistee. Things are pretty slow. Seems like its been this way the last few seasons now. Can't say I understand the need to reduce stocking efforts. There isn't that many fish as it is now.

If there is anything good I can say its that I haven't had to deal with any crowds. And the few fish that I have caught have all been very healthy.

Chunky fish. Good way to spend the morning.